


as fate would have it

by glittercake



Series: SamBucky Bingo 2019 [11]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Fate & Destiny, First Kiss, M/M, Meet-Cute, Mentions of Riley, Redwing is a parrot, Strangers to Lovers, slow burn on a speed run
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:55:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,610
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22547407
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glittercake/pseuds/glittercake
Summary: "Red very lost," It says, surprising the shit out of Bucky.He stares at it and says, "What?!"The bird honest to god sighs and repeats, "Red. Very. Lost.""Yeah, no shit, pal."  he murmurs, making his way down the sidewalk. "So, your name's Red, huh?""No shit, pal," says Red.or, Bucky meets Sam in a very roundabout kind of way.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Sam Wilson
Series: SamBucky Bingo 2019 [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1509827
Comments: 42
Kudos: 358
Collections: Sambucky Bingo





	as fate would have it

**Author's Note:**

> For the Redwing bingo square.

Bucky's peacefully enjoying a cappuccino on the coffee shop's outdoor terrace when a tinny voice—kind of squawky—says, "Hi."

Takes him a second to realize there's a red parrot perched on the back of the chair beside him. It's tipping its head sideways, looking at Bucky, but seems pretty content just to sit there. It is obviously a tame bird, he thinks, must belong to the coffee shop's owner.

"Well, hey, buddy," Bucky says. There's no one else around, so he doesn't feel too dumb.

The bird eyes his scone, so Bucky breaks a piece off and places it in his saucer. Happily, the bird pecks at the crumbs then eyes his cappuccino.

"Look, pal, I don't share my coffee."

The bird squawks at him.

Bucky leans forward. "Nope."

It sits with Bucky until he calls for the bill and gets ready to go. He thinks it'll go back to its cage once Bucky leaves, but it hops off and follows him down the sidewalk.

"You need to go now. Go home." But his new red feathered friend waddles behind him and flaps its wings. "Christ, okay, come here." Bucky knows next to nothing about parrots, but he sticks his finger out and waits for it to hop on.

Its claws are sharp, digging into Bucky's skin as he carries it inside. He spots the owner behind the counter, counting cash. Bucky's always thought he's really handsome with that goatee, those tight shirts, and his megawatt smile.

"Think your bird got out," Bucky says, trying to lower the animal onto the counter- it won't budge for shit, so he gives up and holds it. It is really fucking heavy for a bird.

The owner looks kind of amused, eyes flicking between Bucky and the bird. With this deep, dreamy voice, he says, "Ain't my bird."

"Oh… I just thought, you know because…" he realizes the bird must have just flown this way then. "Never mind." He flusters a little, typical of him to make a fool of himself in front of hot guys like this. Christ.

Manager Dude gives him an appreciative once over, grinning, watching Bucky fumble, and Bucky's cheeks flame up because god forbid someone exactly his type should ever show a drop interest.

The shitshow is interrupted by a barista calling the manager to the back.

"Mr. Cage?"

Bucky heaves a sigh of relief, rushing out the shop once the guy's eyes are no longer on him.

Once they're out on the sidewalk, Bucky turns to the bird, "Where'd you come from, huh?"

"Red very lost," It says, surprising the shit out of Bucky.

He stares at it and says, "What?!"

The bird honest to god sighs and repeats, "Red. Very. Lost."

"Yeah, no shit, pal."

Alright. Not like the parrot has a tag or a collar, so Bucky takes it home and thinks perhaps he can have a more elaborate conversation with it in the privacy of his apartment where people won't think he's crazy. Maybe the bird's got some more info on his owner in his little red, feathery head.

"So, your name's Red, huh?" he murmurs, making his way down the sidewalk.

"No shit, pal," says Red.

"Okay." Bucky smooths his hands over the town map now spread out on his dining table. "Show me where you stay."

Red looks disinterested.

"Fine. Maybe you're hungry? You gonna talk after a bite?"

"McDonald's!" Red squawks.

"Definitely not, that is _very_ unhealthy, and I know jack shit about parrots, pal, but I'm 100% sure you shouldn't eat that shit," Bucky says and watches Red clawing around all over the map. 

He has no idea where he's going to find Red's owner. He thinks the best thing to do is put up posters. Hopefully, the person comes to him. So, he takes a picture of Red, giving him a stink eye and prints a few copies to post around town the next day.

Bucky goes to makes some coffee and hears Red flutter up to the windowsill. He sits there staring out at the city below with his feathery little forehead pressed against the glass.

"You miss your home, huh, buddy?" Bucky says quietly, going over to where Red's sitting. He runs the back of his finger down Red's neck.

"Miss. Riley." Red parrots.

"Oh! Is that your dad? Or mom? Or person?"

"Riley," Red says again, head still pressed to the window.

Checking Facebook for the name _Riley_ is an epic fail. There are over 500 people with that name, most of their locations hidden, so there's no way Bucky can tell who Red's Riley is, and he's not texting 500+ strangers.

That night Bucky empties a fruit basket and places an old towel inside and frantically pats it until Red stops glaring him and gets in.

"There. Sorry, I don't have a cage." He tells the bird. "I'm right here, okay? Look—" he gets into bed, and Red watches him still appalled at his fruit basket bed. Bucky wonders what the hell Riley then lets him sleep in.

It's not long after lights out that Bucky hears rustling and the unmistakable scrape of claws on his hardwood and then a soft thud on his duvet, followed by tap tap tap and a beak in his face.

"Jesus Christ, fine." He lifts the covers and Red scrambles underneath, wiggling himself until he's comfortable.

"Amen." The little shit says, and Bucky tries very hard not to laugh.

* * *

The next morning Bucky makes scrambled eggs and toast. He scoops some egg and a small piece of toast into a plate and pushes it to Red. The bird is pecking at the newspaper on the counter.

It is obviously spoilt and treated incredibly well because it has some very pointed yet silent opinions about food. It flicks the toast to the side with its claw and closes its eyes.

"What you don't like toast??" Bucky says with a mouthful of it. "Eat the eggs." He points at the few blobs of yellow on the plate.

"Nope," Red says and turns his back on Bucky.

Bucky takes another bite, then a sip of coffee, "Then what ya havin' pal? I ain't buying a parrot a Happy Meal. Forget about it."

That makes Red angry. He yelps and flaps his feathers, then screams, "Cookie!!!"

"Cookie??" Bucky says, equally frustrated.

Red bops up and down like yes, "Cookie!!"

"I don't got any cookies!!!" Bucky screams back before he realizes he's arguing with an animal.

Then Red puts on a voice that sounds scarily like Bucky's and says, "Look, pal, I don't share my coffee."

He stares at his new housemate, gaping, "You want the scone from yesterday?"

"Cookie!!" he does the up and down bopping dance thing again, and Bucky's not about to admit that he's developing a soft spot for this little asshole.

Bucky smiles, pets Red's head, and says, "It's not a fucking cookie, you moron."

They're driving around a couple of hours later, putting up the posters. Red's in the passenger seat of Bucky's car, he steadfastly refused a seatbelt and is now perched on Bucky's laptop bag, looking out the window.

Bucky stops at few stores in town, a farmer's market, and about a hundred street poles to put up flyers for Red's owners to see.

It's late afternoon when they start driving back. Bucky takes the scenic route and passes by the bridge and creek, a couple of cows grazing in an overgrown green pasture, a bunch of tall trees, and finally, the graveyard's rickety fence.

At which Red begins squawking so loud Bucky swerves before pulling up to the curb.

"What the hell?? You know you could have—"

"Riley!!" Red flaps his wings and bumps his head against the window like he wants out.

Bucky's heart sinks dreadfully when he realizes the parrot is motioning to the graveyard…. That his owner, Riley… is in there.

"Fuck, please tell me he's the groundskeeper," Bucky mutters to himself. He grabs hold of Red and heads to the entrance. It's eerily silent, the walkway crunching under Bucky's boots is the only sound, as he follows a shaded path to who knows where.

At a curve in the path, Red launches off his hand and flies up ahead. Bucky calls out for him to wait, but he swoops low and fast past all the graves and disappears around another bend.

There's not much Bucky can do but follow in the same direction and hope he catches up. "Red??"

Red doesn't answer, and Bucky starts to worry that he's flown off completely because Bucky refused to buy him McDonald's and wanted to make him sleep in a fruit basket and called him a moron and why are his eyes wet goddamnit!

But beyond the thicket of trees, when Bucky emerges quite tousled and breathless, sits Red.

And he's perched on a square headstone that reads "Riley."

The earth around it is still damp and fresh and recently shoveled; the flowers left there have not yet wilted.

God fucking shit.

"Oh, pal. I'm sorry…" Bucky steps closer to the bird; his heart breaks in silence for how the animal's head hangs low. His vivid red feathers look tired now, somehow. Bucky curls his hand around Red's little body, "I'm really sorry."

"Shh." Red says miserably and in a different voice, deeper, "Riley's sleeping."

Bucky sniffs hard and wipes his eyes, but he cries even more. He tells Red, "Yeah, let's leave Riley, okay? Come sit with me."

Red reluctantly hops onto Bucky's arm. He shuffles over to a large Willow just behind the grave and sits down with Red in his lap. Bucky's head falls against the tree.

"Guess you're stuck with me now, huh?"

"Bed."

"Yeah, I'll get you a bed, you brat." He rubs Red's chests, "Get you a fuckin' pillow too and cookies, you punk. Huh? Would you like that?" Red's nuzzling against his palm, cooing, "Yeah, you would. Can't sleep in my bed because I don't want feathers pokin' me in the ass at night."

"Riley." Red chirps again.

Bucky pulls Red close to him, and Red squirms away like the brat he is. "Yeah buddy, Riley's gone, he ain't coming back."

Bucky's thinking of the best way to console his new pet when he hears footsteps coming his way. He guesses it's not weird for someone to sit in a graveyard and reminisce, so he doesn't bother moving.

But the footsteps land rather close to Bucky's spot, and then a voice similar to the one Red just made says, "Lost your goddamn bird."

Red perks up, eyes wide.

"He never liked me that bird. I swear. Calls me Spam, for god's sake." There's a crinkling of paper; Bucky guesses the man is putting flowers down. "Anyway, fuck. He's gone. I looked all over." His voice cracks. "I'm sorry, man."

Bucky also guesses now would be the perfect time to get up and make an introduction. He's still kind of dizzy with the likeliness of all this but pushes to his feet with Red on his arm.

He's about to open his mouth as he rounds the tree and sees the man's back, when Red shrieks, "Spam! Spam! Spam!"

Bucky reels away from the bird, and the man standing at Riley's grave spins around and screams, "Holy shit??!!"

"I'm sorry!" Bucky says, trying to appease, then scowling at Red, "Jesus you loud mouth— I'm sorry."

The man clutches his chest, "Dude," he inhales a few times quick to catch his breath. A couple of seconds later, he stops looking petrified and stares, squints and says, "Red?"

Now that Bucky gets a good look at him, he's really gorgeous. Soft brown eyes, a killer build, friendly smile, and a goatee too. Huh.

"I found him in mid-town, I've been looking for…" he smiles apologetically at the man—Spam? — "he just kept saying Riley, Riley, and I put up fliers this morning, but no one's phoned and—"

"Riley was my, uhm. My roommate. Red is… _was_ Riley's bird." Spam explains.

"Sorry for your loss," Bucky says, petting down Red's back. "He really misses Riley."

"Yeah, He hasn't been doing too great, picked the lock while I was sleeping, and flew off, probably looking for him... he doesn't understand it, you know." Spam looks at Red with a broken little smile of nostalgia, "He's as stubborn as Riley was."

"Tell me about stubborn, made me go all the way to Crossly Square for a scone this morning, didn't you punk?" Bucky presses his nose to Red's beak.

Red goes, "Yeaaaaah."

Both Spam and Bucky chuckle quietly and then catch each other's eye.

"My name's Sam, by the way. Sam Wilson." He reaches out for Bucky's hand.

Bucky extends his hand and greets Sam. Red uses their arms as a bridge to climb onto Sam instead. "Spammy." He chirps.

"I'm James Barnes."

Sam sweeps a hand down Red's back and wings, and it's clear that he is hugely relieved to have the bird back.

"Hey, thanks for taking care of him, James Barnes. I appreciate that." Sam says and lets his hand go.

"He's a great bird, didn't mind one bit." Bucky is not about to start missing this bird. He's not.

Instead, he waves at Sam, tells him to keep well, and starts toward his car.

Red squawks frantically at his back.

"I don't think he wants you to go," Sam says when Bucky turns back. "You like James, huh?" he says to the flapping bird on his arm.

"Uhm, you could… I don't know, take my number, and I'll visit? Or is that weird? I'm not trying to hit on you in a graveyard or anything it's just—"

Sam laughs and shakes his head. With his one free hand, he digs his phone out of his back pocket, and Bucky exhales. "It's cool. People have hit on me in worse places. You can put your number in, I'll call you."

Bucky does, and they part with a friendly, slightly awkward wave and a heart heavier than usual on Bucky's part.

He doubts he'll ever hear from Sam or Red again.

* * *

He doesn't.

* * *

Five months later, Bucky's strolling aimlessly lazy down the aisles of the new deli in town. He's not really there for anything; just came to check it out and maybe pick up a few donuts on the way.

He's yawning is way down the baked goods section when he hears two very familiar voices arguing about a very familiar subject.

"Cookie!!" says the parrot.

"Oh my god, what fuckin' cookie, Red??"

A flap of wings, "Cookie!!" the bird insists. Bucky's face splits into a grin. He grabs a pack of scones from the shelf and wheels his cart around the corner into the next aisle where Sam's arguing with Red about the goddamn not-cookie.

"I think I know what he wants," He says quietly, not wanting to startle Sam again the way he did in the graveyard that day.

Sam turns, swiveling Red around with him. The parrot lets out a loud squeal and flaps his wings, and Sam chuckles, looking pleasantly surprised.

Bucky's just as surprised when Sam comes closer and hugs him, but he leans in and wraps his arms around Sam, giving a quick squeeze.

"Hey man, how you doing?" Sam says when they part.

"Good, how're you guys?" Bucky scratches Red's little head who closes his eyes, cooing happily. "Hey, pal." He whispers as Red burrows into his hand. "Hey, you lookin' for these, huh?" Bucky holds up the packet of pre-packaged scones.

Red perks up, but Bucky is completely unsurprised that he pushes it aside with his paw and makes a disgruntled noise.

Sam laughs, "He's been like this since you uh," he licks his lips nervously, "since I got him back."

Bucky thinks Sam's probably feeling guilty that he never called, and while Bucky wondered about him and thought about him and missed Red since then, he's not upset or hard done by it. He can deal with not being everyone's cup of tea.

"Probably my fault. He likes the ones from Luke's coffee shop." Bucky smiles, finds it kind of hard to meet Sam's eyes because he's so handsome it makes Bucky feel kind of unsteady, "Just up the road."

"Gotta take him there then, I guess. Thanks for that."

"Hey, no problem. It was good seeing you guys again." He leans down and noses at Red's neck, "Don't be too hard on Spam here, okay?" he says to the bird, and Sam laughs deep and incredulously.

"Yeah, fat chance," Sam says half to the bird, half to Bucky.

Bucky smiles and takes hold of his cart again. Same as that day they first met, he feels heavy, and like it is all wrong to walk away. But Sam didn't call, and there's probably a reason for that so Bucky won't push.

"Cheers, Sam." He tells the guy as he starts wheeling his cart away.

"Cheers, James," Sam says too.

They lock eyes for a few seconds, and Bucky thinks he's about to fall over, feels like everything around him just kind of pivots sideways.

But he finally looks away and reaches the part where he needs to turn the cart into another aisle and never see Sam again but daydream of him almost all the time, and think about him far more than that, and obsess about why he never called for another five months…

"James!?"

It's kind of embarrassing how fast Bucky flings himself around. "Yeah?"

Sam takes a deep breath, his chest expands and drops slowly, "I, uh… I think Red would like it if you joined us. For coffee. At Luke's. If you wanted to." He says and looks down at his shoes, suddenly shy and unsure.

Bucky feels like screaming. He doesn't because he is in public.

Red does, however, screech an exhilarated "Yes yes yes yes!!" and bobs his head up and down.

"Of course," Bucky says, "I'd like that very much."

Sam huffs out a laugh and peeks over at Bucky in a way that makes him feel utterly lost and right at home in the same breath.

Bucky pays for his donuts, and Sam pays for his cold meats and fresh rolls, and they walk to the coffee shop together with Red keeping them company on the way. He's got a lot to say about everything he sees, and they have to stop at least three times for people to say hi to the bird.

Once seated at the coffee shop, silence stretches out between them until Sam finally says, "I'm sorry I never called."

Bucky shakes his head, "It's okay."

"I wanted to," Sam says, "but after Riley… Just wasn't ready, you know."

Bucky gets the idea that perhaps Riley had been more than just a roommate.

"And now?"

Sam sits back, his lips pull into a smile.

"Think I don't wanna spend hours a day just wondering about that guy who hit on me in a cemetery anymore."

Bucky gasps, "I did not hit on you in—"

Sam starts laughing. Jesus, it's a thing like Bucky has never seen before. Makes his entire stomach swoop and feel all tingly.

Bucky says, "I see where he gets it from now." and takes a sip of his cappuccino. He scatters a few scone morsels on the table for Red.

Sam holds full that Riley was completely responsible for Red's bratty behavior, but the more they talk, the more Bucky doesn't believe him. Sam is really funny, super snarky and smart as a whip. Bucky's giggling himself to tears once the awkwardness has worn off.

Their hands touch a few times when they're either fiddling with Red or reaching for the sugar, at which they stop and get weird, clearing their throats and all, and Bucky's cheeks stay flushed pink the entire time.

When the sky turns a glowing peachy shade, they get the bill and head back the same way. Red's perched on Sam's right shoulder and Bucky's strolling along on his left.

It's not long before their hands bump then intertwine.

When Bucky looks over, Sam's smiling into the sunset. 

At Sam's door—which is _very_ far away from where Bucky parked his car, but he'll be damned if he doesn't walk a pretty guy home—Sam turns to Bucky, and he realizes they're standing awfully close.

"Uhm…" Bucky mumbles, his hand still in Sam's.

Sam snorts and looks down, "Uhm?"

"Call me this time, yeah?"

Sam nods vehemently, "In case I don't, I want you showing up here on Saturday, 7 p.m, I'll cook."

"I'll bring the wine."

Bucky's trembling with nerves, but he reaches up and slides his free hand along Sam's jaw.

He turns Sam's face to the side and kisses his cheek.

Red makes terrible mock kissing noises, and they both end up laughing.

Sam does call. Several times. They're like hopeless fools in a rom-com if Bucky's honest about it, and even though Saturday is only three days away, Bucky can hardly wait, he imagines every possible way the evening could play out for all three of those days.

When Saturday finally rolls around, and Bucky shows up at Sam's door with a bottle of wine and a bunch of yellow tulips, the first thing Sam does is kiss him.

It's all soft lips and a hint of tongue and hands in Bucky's hair and the world tipping off its axis once again.

Then, breathless and grinning, Sam says, "Well. Now that's out of the way, wanna come in?"

And Red chirps, "No shit, pal!"

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr too: [glitter-cake20](https://glitter-cake20.tumblr.com/)


End file.
